Stand for display trays and the like



2 Sheets-Sheet 1' A. A. WRIGHT Jan. 5, 1937.

Filed Feb. 7, 1955 Jan. 5, 1937.

STAND FOR DISPLAY TRAYS AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. '7, 1955 2 Sheets-sheaf, 2

A. A. WRIGHT 2,066,378-

Patented Jan. 5, 1937 i UNITED STATES FATENT OFFIQE Allen A. Wright, Winnetka,

111., assignor to Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application February 7, 1935, Serial No. 5,325

3 Claims.

The subject matter of the present invention is a stand for display trays, boxes, and the like. Recently a practice has developed among retail grocers of displaying in their stores packaged goods such as cheeses, butter, crackers, etc. in what they call jumble fashion. That is, the packages are loosely piled helter-skelter in a display tray, box, or other container; and it has been observed that customers-and especially women-will more readily pick up and examine a package so presented to their attention than they will articles or packages that are neatly and closely packed in rows or other orderly arrangement.

Of course, all display containers, if placed on the store counter, occupy room required for the wrapping of packages, and are more or less in the way. For this reason it is desirable to provide separate stands or like supports for the display containers.

The present invention had its inspiration in the observation of a feature of waste connected with the operation of grocery stores. Empty boxes, such as orange and grapefruit crates, collect in great numbers, and are commonly piled in the grocers back yard or a vacant lot and burned. It occurred to this applicant that these empty boxes and crates might be utilized, by positioning them on end, as stands for the display containers. But a naked empty crate is an unsightly object, and does not add to the artistic attractiveness of a modern grocery store. Hence, there followed the idea of providing a covering or envelope that would conceal the crate from view; and, as cardboard is a very plentiful and cheap material, its adaptability for such purpose suggested itself. A hollow column of cardboard or like material however is too weak to alone support the weight of a loaded tray, but with the crate inside of it serving as internal bracing, it is amply strong, so that the weight of the tray may be supported by either the column or the crate or partly by each.

The hollow column or envelope also lends itself to the performance of another useful duty. If the loaded tray merely rests on the fiat top of a stand, it may be accidentally pushed oil and its contents spilled onto the floor. To prevent this, I make the hollow column or envelope slightly higher than the box core, and in the preferred construction, I cut in the top edges of the walls of the column spaced notches shaped to substantially fit comer portions of a polygonal tray. This notching of the walls produces wall extensions between the notches, that, through engagement with the side walls of the tray, brace the latter against sidewise displacement from the top of the stand. The two ends of the hollow column or envelope may be differently notched to fit differently shaped trays, thus doubling the capacity of the stand as a vertical and lateral support for differently shaped trays.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that the general purpose or object of the present invention is to provide a simple, neat, and cheap stand for display trays, boxes, and other containers that, in its structure, may utilize a readymade article appurtenant to a grocers stock in trade that has hitherto been regarded and treated as waste.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:--

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the upperportion of the stand, showing a six-sided tray seated thereon.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the hollow colum or envelope.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the core member, herein shown as a fruit crate.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a top plan viewof the hollow column or envelope inverted, showing a four-sided tray seated thereon.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the construction shown in Fig. 5.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, l 53 designates as an entirety the core member of the stand, herein shown as consisting of an empty fruit crate, such as is commonly used for the packaging and shipment of oranges, grapefruit and the like.

H designates as an entirety the hollow column or envelope, which may conveniently consist of cardboard.

The envelope H is slightly longer than the core member In, and is of a size to have a sliding engagement with the core member. Viewing Figs. 2 and. 3, it will be readily seen that the envelope 1 I may be readily telescoped down over the core member ID, both resting at their lower ends on the floor.

12 designates as an entirety a package container, consisting of a six-sided cardboard tray made with a relatively high rear wall. This form of display tray is old and well known and, of course, no claim to the same is made herein. To support this tray on the stand against any liability of its being accidentally pushed off, the top edge of the hollow column or envelope II is notched to receive certain portions of the tray.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the front wall of the hollow column is formed with a comparatively wide notch l3 that receives the front portion of the tray, the two side walls are formed with somewhat narrower notches I4 that receive the side corner portions of the tray, and the rear wall is formed with a wide somewhat shallower notch [5 through which the rear wall of the tray extends, as shown in Fig. 4; the inclined edges of the notch I5 supportingly engaging the rear portions of the adjacent rear side Walls of the tray. This notching of the upper edge of the column forms in effect vertical extensions l-6 of the envelope H that engage with the side walls of the tray in a manner to center the latter on thestand and prevent the tray from being accidentally pushed off the stand.

' Preferably, as shown in Fig. v4, the bottom edges of the front and side notches l3 and H are fiush with the top surface of the core member l0, so that the tray is supported partly by the Core member and partly by the hollow column or envelope, the bottom edge of the rear notch l;5

serving as a brace for the rear wall of the tray to prevent accidental rearward tipping of the latter.

The capacity of the hollow column or envelope II for supporting different shaped trays may be increased, for example, by forming in the lower edges of its Walls notches I! (Fig. 2) forcooperation with a rectangularfour sided tray 18 having flaring walls, such as is shown in Figs. 5 and .6. Where the lower edge of the column is thus cut out to cooperate with a tray such as IS, the four notches will all be of the same width and depth, and, between the notches, are the projections l9, all of equal size. Manifestly, by merely inverting the envelope II, and then telescoping it over the core member 10, the stand is adapted for the support of a rectangular four-sided tray 'suchjas Manifestly, for the support of trays of other shapes than those herein shown, the cut-outs .or notches in the ends of the column will be varied in shape and location to suit the formation of the particular tray intended to be used on the stand;

portant function 'of the hollow column or en-- velope, however, is to provide means, such as the projections I G and [9 to aiford lateral support or backing to the tray when seated on the stand.

In the constructions shown in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, it is not at all essential that the top of' the core member be flush with the bottom edges ofthe notches. If the core member is somewhat shorter than as shown in Fig. 4, the tray will rest entirely on thebottom edges of the notches, and the core member will serve to internally reinforce the cardboard envelope so that the latter will not bend or crumple under the weight of the loaded tray. 0n the other hand, ifthe top of the core member is slightly above the lower edges of the notches, the weight of the tray will be carried by the core member, while the envelope will perform its double function of concealing the crate and laterallysupporting the tray.

The above description, in connection with the drawings, will make clear how the invention fulfills the stated general purpose or object thereof. Y

Qf course, the core member may be a box other than the fruit crate shown and described,

the hollow column or envelop may be of other material than cardboard, withinthe scope of the; invention. Also, the end formations of the ;en a

velope may be other than those shown and described, so long as they include means for laterally supporting the tray against accidentaldisplace ment. 7,

prising a core member consisting of a rectangular wooden box, and a rectangular hollow columnof card boardenveloping and concealing said box and havinga sliding fit thereon, said column hav:

2. A stand for display trays and the like, come,

prisinga. core member consistingof a rectangular. wooden box, and a rectangular hollow column'of card board envelopingand concealing said boxand having a sliding fit thereon, said column hav--, ing corner projections on its top edge adaptedto laterally engage with a tray superposed on said core member. r i

a 3. Astand for display trays and the like, on-

prising a core member consisting of a rectangular. wooden box, and an invertible rectangular hollow column of cardboard enveloping and concealing said box and having asliding fit thereon,said column having corner projections on its top and bottom edges respectivelyadapted to laterally en gage with differently shaped trays superposed on said core member.

ALLEN A. WRIGHT. 

